Grain-car door.



APPLICATION FILED APBA, 1910.

J. A. RICHL'BY. GRAIN GAB DOOR.

PatentedMay 30,1911

2 QHBETB-SHEET l.

w w w I o 9 T Q1 x o g} ,4 w kg N A NE E? 2 I v W 55 x. P Q 7 --"w| s EQ mg, HI f 1 ww u J. A. RIGHLEY.

GRAIN OAR DOOR. 'urmcuxon man APB. 4, 1910.

Patented May 30, 1911.

2 SHBET8-SHEETL 1 .5 I w E 1n: NORRIS Pink: :0" wAsnmurou. nc.

JOSEPH A. RICHLEY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 4, 1910.

Patented May 30, 1911. Serial No. 553,322.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. RIOHLEY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county ofHennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Grain-Car Doors, of which the following is aspecification. T This invention relates to grain car doors and has forits object the provision of a door of simple construction which may bereadily opened and which, when not in position to close the dooropening, may be folded ,and secured against either the inside or theoutside of the car.

The invention also seeks to provide a door which may be readily fittedin place on any freight car now in use and which may be constructed at aslight expense and operated without requiring any excessive exertion onthe part of the operator.

The invention also seeks to provide a door which, when extended acrossthe door opening in closed position, will be held firmly in place by thepressure of the grain and whlc'h, when in the act of opening or closing,will automatically rise so as to clear the floor of the car.

These several objects, and such other objects as will hereinafterincidentally appear, are attained in such a device as is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in certainpeculiar features of the same as will be hereinafter first fullydescribed and then more particularly defined in the claims.

In the drawings, which illustrate the preferred embodiment of myinvention, Figures 1 and 2 are elevations of a grain car door showingthe same in position in acar and extending across the door opening, Fig.1 showing the door as it a pears from the outer side of the car, andFlg. 2 showing the same as it appears on the inside of the car.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the door showing the same closed in full lines,and in dotted lines showing the movement of the parts to open the door.Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the door folded back against the innerside of the car in full lines, and in dotted lines showing the samefolded against the outer side of the car. Fig. 5 is a detail verticalsection through the hinge. Fig. 6

is a detail view of the hinge connection at the lower corner of thedoor.

The car body 1 is of the usual construction and provided with a dooropening 2 in its side, as will be readily understood, and t0 the innerside of the body at the edge of the door opening and around the doorpost 3, I secure upper and lower sockets 4 and 5 adapted to receive ahinge rod 6 to which the door is secured so as to swing therewith. Thelower socket 5 has its upper surface beveled around its central openlng,as shown at 7, and the upper socket 1 has a central recess 8 in whichthe upper end of the hinge rod is slidably held, as shown in Fig. 5. Thedoor is composed of three members or leaves 9, 10 and 11, which will bedesignated the main, the intermediate, and the hinge sections,respectively. The hinge leaf or section 11 has it inner edgeformed intoa hinge sleeve 12 which fits around the hinge rod 6 between the sockets4 and 5 and is seecured to the said rod by rivets or bolts 13 inserteddiametrically through the same.

when the member or leaf is rotated,the said beveled surfaces will imparta vertical movement to the hinge sleeve/and its attached hinge rod, andthereby lift the door slightly so that it will clear the floor of thecar and will not drag thereon in the opening and closing movements. Thehinge section 11 is provided at its outer edge with tubular offsets 14through which a pintle or pin 15 is inserted, and the said pintle or pin15 passes through corresponding sleeves or offsets 16 formed on the edgeof a hinge plate 17 which is secured rigidly to the outer face of theintermediate section of the member 10 of the door. This intermediatesection or member 10 is also secured rigidly to a hinge plate 18 whichis disposed in rear of the said section, parallel with and immediatelyin rear of the hinge plate 17 and is provided with tubular offsets 19which receive a pintle or pin 20 passing through tubular sleeves oroffsets 21 formed at the inner edge of the main section or member 9 ofthe door, the said hinge plates and the intermediate leaf being securedtogether by the same sets of rivets 31.

outer side of the main leaf or member, and.

a pin 24 is carried by the said intermediate leaf or section and adaptedto be inserted through the said staple 23 and thereby prevent theintermediate leaf swinging outward away from the main leaf, as will bereadily understood. In like manner, the inner end of the intermediateleaf is secured to the hinge leaf by a pin 25 carried by the saidintermediate leaf and adapted to be inserted through a staple 26projecting from the inner side of the hinge leaf through a slot 27 inthe intermediate leaf, as will be readily understood. The main leaf 9 ofthe door is, of course, the full height desired for the door and thehinge leaf is of the same height, while the intermediate leaf is ofequal height with the other leaves at its inner end and the three leavesconsequently present a complete closure for the door opening whenextended across the same as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but, in order toavoid undue weight in the door, and to reduce the cost, the intermediateleaf is tapered toward its outer end as clearly shown in Fig. 1, whilethe main leaf, in order to assure the requisite strength, is providedwith a reinforcing rib or bar of angle iron 28 secured along its medialhorizontal line on its inner side, as shown.

Having thus made known the construction and arrangement of the severalparts of my improved grain car door, the operation and advantages of thesame will, it is thought, be readily understood and appreciated. Whenthe door is in its closed position, the free end of the main leaf willextend slightly beyond the side of the door opening and will bearagainst the door post, as indicated at 29 in Fig. 3. The pressure of thegrain, or other commodity with which the car is loaded, against the doorwill, consequently, hold the same against the side of the car so thataccidental opening of the door will be positively prevented. The pin 24may be guarded against pilferers or accidental displacement by means ofany of the wellknown forms of seals or otherwise secured, as will bereadily understood, so that the removal of the contents of the car priorto its arrival at its destination will be prevented. When it is desiredto unload the car, the pin 24 is disengaged from the staple 23 and theintermediate leaf 10 is then swung outward, as indicated by dotted linesin Fig. 3, around the hinge rod 6 and this movement will cause the mainleaf 9 to swing upon the pin or pintle 20 relatively to the intermediateleaf so that the free end of the said main leaf will be drawn from itsengagement'with the door post and may be swung outward beyond the sideof the car, as will be readily understood. As the door is swung outward,the beveled surfaces of the lower socket and the hinge sleeve 12 willimpart a slight vertical movement to the door so that the lower edge ofthe same will be lifted from the floor of'the car and the swingingmovement of the door facilitated. The wagons into which the contents ofthe car are to be loaded may be backed close against the side of the carso that 7 when the door is opened, the grain or other commodity willflow directly into the wagon and consequently loss of the same will beavoided. When it is desired to fold the door against the outer side ofthe car so that it will be out of the way while loading or unloading,the pin 25 is released from a staple 26 and the main and intermediateleaves will then turn upon the pin 15 as a center, while the hinge leafwill continue ,to swing upon the hinge rod as a center so that theseveral parts will assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4and fold around the side of the door opening and against the side of thecar, as will be readily understood. Should it be desired to ship the carempty and to have the door against the inner side of the car body, thepins 24 and 25 may be both inserted through their respective staples andthe door swung bodily around the hinge rod so as to lie against theinner side of the door and be'held in that position by any convenientform of door stop 30 on the floor of the car, as will be readilyunderstood.

It will be noted that the hinge sleeve 12 fits closely'against thecorner of the door post 3 so that in all positions of the door,

there will be no space between the same of the said rod without allowingthe rod to escape from its sockets and thereby render the doorinoperative or useless. The several leaves of the door are preferablyconstructed of sheet steel so that while they will be very light, theywill at the same time be very strong, and when in the closed positionwill extend completely across the door opening and thereby retain theentire contents of the car within the same. i

The advantages of the construction and of the method of operation willbe readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the inventionappertains, and while I have described the principle of operation of theinvention, together with the device which I consider to be the bestembodiment thereof, I desire'to have it understood that the device shownis merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desiredas are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a car having a door opening, of a hinge rodmounted immediately adjacent to one side of the door opening androtatable about its longitudinal axis in its mounting, and a doorconsisting of a hinge member secured to and movable with said hinge rodand also constituting a portion of the closure for the door opening, anintermediate member hinged to the first named member at the edge thereofremote from the hinge rod, and a main member hinged to the intermediatemember in spaced relation to its connection with the hinge member andadapted to bear against the inner side of the car at the opposite sideof the door opening from the hinge rod, the intermediate memberoverlapping both the main and hinge members and where bridging the spacebetween them constituting a closure for the corresponding portion of thedoor opening.

2. A grain car door consisting of a hinge member, an intermediate memberhinged thereto and overlapping the same, a main member hinged to andoverlapping the intermediate member, and means for locking theintermediate member to the hinge member and to the main memberrespectively.

3. A grain car door having an intermediate closure member and endclosure members, the intermediate member having portions eachoverlapping a respective one of the end members, and the intermediatemember also having hinge connections to said end members at spacedpoints on opposite sides of said intermediate member.

4. The combination, in a grain car door, of a hinge member, a hingeplate disposed adjacent the outer edge of the hinge member and pivotallyconnected thereto, an intermediate member arranged against the innerside of said hinge plate, a second hinge plate arranged against theinner side of said intermediate member, both said hinge plates beingpermanently secured to the intermediate member, and a main memberpivotally attached at its inner end to the last mentioned hinge plateand bearing against the inner side of the intermediate member.

5. A grain car door having a main closure member, a hinge member alsoconstituting a closure member of equal height with the main member andspaced therefrom, and an intermediate member spanning the space betweenthe other two members and overlapping and hin ed to both of saidmembers, the interme iate member where spanning the other two membersbeing of equal height therewith and constituting a closure member.

6. A grain car door having a main closure member, a hinge member alsoconstituting a closure member of equal height with the main member and saced therefrom, and an intermediate meml ier spanning the space betweenthe other two members and overlapping and hinged to both of saidmembers, the intermediate member where spanning the space between theother two members being of equal height with the latter and constitutinga closure member, and fastening means for securing together therespective overlapping portion of the intermediate member to the mainmember and the respective overlapping portion of the intermediate memberand the hinge member.

7. The combination with a car having a door opening, of a hinge rodrotatably mounted immediately adjacent the door opening, and a doorhaving a hinge member rigidly secured to the hinge rod and passingbetween the same and the side of the car to fit closely against the sideof the door opening, an intermediate member hinged to the hinge member,a main member hinged to the intermediate member and having its free endadapted to bear against the inner side of the car at the far side of thedoor opening, and means for locking the main and hinge members to theintermediate member, the main and hinge members being hinged to theintermediate member on opposite sides thereof and at points spaced apartlongitudinally of the same whereby the door may be bowed in the dooropening or may be secured close against either the inside or the outsideof the car at one side of the door opening.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH A. RICHLEY.

Witnesses:

NORMAN E. PETERSON, ELIONORE I'IANSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G."

